French First Republic

The French Republic (1789/1792-1799/1802) was a republican nation established in 1792 after the fall of the Kingdom of the French constitutional monarchy. The French Republic was a nationalist extremist group, ruled at first by the Jacobins, and they declared war on virtually every power in Europe, starting the French Revolutionary Wars.

Background
The French First Republic was founded after the National Convention of 1792 after a short-lived constitutional monarchy failed to serve the people well. Louis XVI of France was deposed and replaced by consuls who were of the Jacobins, a revolutionary society organized on the Rue Jacques in Paris. France was an extremist nationalist government, declaring war on the Austrian Empire and Prussia in 1792 to flex their military muscles and spread the revolution to the rest of Europe. The French Revolutionary Wars nearly resulted in the empire's destruction, had Lazare Carnot not introduced the levee en masse in 1793 to raise all young men to military service. This National Guard conscript army was led by officers who rose from Private to General in the matter of a year or two. The French Republic's reforms led to its takeover of northern Italy, the Rhineland, the Austrian Netherlands, and the United Provinces by the time of peace in late 1797.

The republic had hardly recovered from the First Coalition when, in 1798, a Second Coalition was formed. This alliance, consisting of Austria, the Russian Empire, Great Britain, and small German states managed to divert Napoleon from his Egypt Campaign and forced him to return to Europe. Rising general Napoleon Bonaparte, who had led the Egypt Campaign and the Italian Campaign, was also immensely popular in the government. His 18 Brumaire Coup of 9 November overthrew the ruling body and he became the President.

Napoleon managed France through the Second Coalition, defeating the Austrians and Russians in Italy in early 1800, winning the Battle of Marengo. Another defeat at the Battle of Hohenlinden in December forced Austria to sue for peace, and Russia also surrendered. Britain did not make peace until 1802.

In 1804, an ambitious Napoleon built up France's armed forces. He was proclaimed Emperor of the French Empire by the French Senate, and the republic fell.